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2015 Prizegiving and AGM Report

Apologies for the delay in getting this report up, but I’ve had to spend the last week doing urgent non-Runfurther things I’d had to put off while I was getting ready for the AGM & 2016 race launch. All photos were taken by Nick Ham: there are more on Nick’s Flickr site.

We had a really successful AGM & prizegiving day: thanks to all who attended. 23 voting members attended the AGM, which was up on last year. So, how did the day go…

The Pendle Race

First of all, the weather forecast was awful, with very strong winds and heavy rain forecast. The Full Tour of Pendle race route was cut short because of this. Instead of the full 27km, 1500m, they cut out the last two climbs, reducing it to 22km/1000m. Those of us who were running were mostly cowering in the hall until the last minute. Actually the race was really enjoyable. It wasn’t cold, and although it was raining most of the time, the rain wasn’t too heavy, and it wasn’t windy. All that came later in the day. The race was a bit of a mudfest of course, as there’d been so much rain the day before, but I really enjoyed it, as I think most of the runners did. And there’s a handy stream at the finish for washing in too. Full results are on the race website here. Our new sponsors Pete Bland Sports were also sponsoring the Pendle race, and Jon Broxap was gamely selling running kit in the pouring rain in the car park.

Dick Scroop & Andy Robinson (after wash in stream)

The AGM

Having fun at the AGM

After the race we got the flags up outside the pub, and had plenty of time to get the venue set up, thanks to the race being shortened. The pub was full of runners, but we had our own area set aside for the AGM, and the Pendle Inn did us proud – we’d go back there again. The AGM started at 4, and although we had good discussions about a number of issues, I think the key areas covered were the success of the 2015 Championship, the 2016 races, which were announced on the day, and the expansion of the committee to include Carmine De Grandis, Barney Nikolich and Mike Sellors. And the election of Brett Weeden and Jon Steele to Honorary Membership. The full minutes can be found here.

The Prizegiving

David Wilson with his Grand Slam hoodie

Most of the prizewinners were present on the day, and Nick got photos of all of them, so you can find them on his Flickr site. I’ve just picked a few here. Karen and Bob Nash were in New Zealand, and they’ll get their prizes when they return. I’ll be touch with everyone else who won a prize and couldn’t be at the prizegiving shortly.

You’re probably all fed up with seeing photos of Ian Symington (this year’s first man, and you’ll be even more sick of the sight of him once the 2016 promotional postcards come out, so here’s Stewart Bellamy instead. And of course we had to have a photo of David Wilson, after his Grand Slam.

…and here’s Sally Howarth, 2nd FV50 and 3rd woman overall:

Very many thanks to Si Berry of Beta Climbing Designs (UK distributors for Injnji and Ultimate Direction). Si brought along loads of additional spot prizes, whihc meant that once again everyone at the AGM got at least one prize, and we’ve even got a few left over for next year.

And afterwards…

We took down the flags in pouring rain, had a committee meeting, I had 2 or 3 more beers, and eventually I settled down in my car in the pub car park, with the rain bucketing down all night, and the wet flags across the front seats. It was actually my wife’s car, and she wasn’t too impressed with the front seats when I got back home the next morning. Oh well – that’s what being a chairman’s all about, in my experience anyway.